Doctor Russell Osborn (con't)
While going to college in Chicago, one of his colleagues suggested that if he ever had a chance he should train with Dr. John Hurley. As a new graduate in the process of building up his clientele, Dr. Osborn had the opportunity in 1943 to take a course called "Aquarian-Age Healing", subtitled Bio-mechanics and Bio-engineering. He then returned to his practice knowing exactly what he wanted to do professionally. He sold all of his Chiropractic equipment, told his clients that he was completely changing his treatment modality, and that if they didn't like it they could go elsewhere for care. After treating his patients, he advised them to return for a free treatment if they didn't notice any improvement or if they felt that they were getting worse. He practiced for 27 years in Toronto, with patients coming from as far away as New York.
While in Ontario, he lived outside of Toronto on his farm. He was an active member of the British Soil Association for years and an organic farmer growing wheat, vegetables and fruit, and raising cows for raw milk. In an interview with the Business Examiner he said, "We're spending millions of dollars making people sick and we're doing the same to our land as we are to our bodies - we're drugging it."
Over the years, Dr. Osborn traveled to Florida, to take the Aquarian-Age Healing course a second time with Dr. John Hurley. He continued to correspond with Hurley, to treat him, and to further develop the technique. Dr. Osborn was a clinician, while Dr. Hurley was intent on teaching and disseminating the technique to the world.
Dr. Osborn made "Bio-Mechanics and Bio-Engineering" his passion and his life's work. From his first introduction to "this work" he never again practiced as a chiropractor.
After "retiring" to Victoria in 1968, people heard of Dr. Osborn's healing treatments. According to a Time's Colonist interview, his retirement "lasted for all of a few weeks" when friends asked him to treat a two-year-old who'd reacted violently to being vaccinated a year before. The child had been rushed to hospital and given a spinal puncture, which caused paralysis from the waist down. "I said, 'I'm afraid I'll never make him walk. I was of the opinion the nerve had atrophied.' " But the child did walk, and word of this success spread. Dr. Osborn subsequently developed a thriving practice out of his home.
Eventually, at the age of 94, following his dream of having a teaching clinic, he opened the Aquarian-Age Healing Clinic in the McKenzie Professional Center in Victoria, BC.
Dr. Osborn was always a picture of health.
He had a vibrant, ageless face with eyes that lit up like the sun. His mind was active and, even in his later years, he had a keen interest in his clients and would always remember their names. He swore that he had never taken a drug in his life or been to the doctor. He said that he'd only been sick once - before he knew better. He died at home in July, 2000 at the age of 97.